When I was growing up in Superior, most of the downtown business district buildings were two-stories tall. The first floor usually housed a business. In some instances, the owner of the first floor store lived on the second floor but not always. Sometimes another business or office was located on the second floor or the apartments may have been occupied by the building owner or tenants.
As I grew older, I became curious about what and who was on the second floor. In the case of Mont Livingood’s Jewelry store which is now part of the Walt’s Furniture Store complex there was a meeting room used by the Job’s Daughters. I remember attending Job’s Daughters events held above the jewelry store. The Mariska Photo Studio had a second floor apartment occupied by the mother of D. Vilas Spohn, The building, which was owned by the Spohn family, had a fascinating electric chair lift which carried a rider up and down the stairs. I gladly accepted an invitation to ride the chair lift.
Over the Beatrice Foods cream station located at Fourth Commercial, the Bureau of Reclamation had offices. When the building was built, the space was known as the Mullet and Long Hall. After the Bureau office closed, the space became the meeting place for the Masonic Lodge. Above the Safeway store located at Fourth and Commercial where the Mexican restaurant is now located, the IOOF lodge met.
When I was in the tenth grade, I visited Judy Wilhite. Her father was the local Railway Express agent and the family lived about Preston’s Drug Store. Access was gained via a Central Street stairway located between Barney Heflin’s snooker parlor and the drug store. A stairway at the rear of the building also led upstairs to the apartments. I liked to take Judy to a movie. After a stroll in the park, we would end up in the apartment to eat a dish of ice cream and watch television.
Dr. Trowbridge had an upstairs office on the west side of the street. Before he built the clinic building on East Third Street, Dr. C. T. Mason had an office above the Security National Bank. Robert Downing and George Johnson had separate law offices above the bank. William Upton had his dental office above what is now Carmen’s. The H&R Block office was above The Superior Express.
The building at Fourth and Central ,which I remember as first housing the Firestone Store and later Leslie Radio and Television, had several apartments and a metal staircase along the south side. There was also a stairway inside the building. A stairway between the Smoke House and the Rexall drug store served the upstairs rooms. Before my time, there was a photo studio above the drug store with a large window with all natural north light flowing into the building. Fred Utter’s photo studio was also located on a second floor. It was above what is now Peak Dental. It also had a north window for natural light.
The former Superior Opera House located on the second floor of the building now owned by GTA Insurance had been converted into apartments. Before the City Auditorium was constructed dances were held above what is now Superior Pharmacy. That space was later converted into apartments.
Most of the buildings not mentioned also had apartments on the second floor and most were rented. Though now remeoved, most buildings also had rear starirways, often made of metal.
Downtown apartment rent was usually quite reasonable. People living downtown had a short walk to reach the stores.
While a number of stores also had merchandise in the basement, the Mullet Store was an exception in that it displayed merchandise not only in the basement but on the upper level as well.
While most of Superior’s second floor apartments are now vacant, upper level apartments were once common in many mid-western communities.
Reader Comments(0)